Sex, shame and the 'national dignity' trap in China

A university expulsion has sparked a national debate over gender, nationalism and the limits of personal freedom in China.

- Tan Dawn Wei

In the past two weeks, Chinese social media has been roiled by a polarising cultural debate over a university's decision to expel a female student for having "improper relations with a foreigner" and "damaging national dignity".

The incident centred on viral videos of a young Chinese woman appearing to be intimate with Ukrainian e-sports player Danylo Teslenko, who posted them in December 2024 on his Telegram channel, which has over 40,000 subscribers.

Mr Teslenko, who goes by the nickname Zeus, was in Shanghai for an e-sports competition in 2024 when the two apparently met and hooked up. And, while the suggestive images had the gaming community chattering at that time over who this young woman was, it wasn't until earlier in July 2025 that the issue blew up on the internet after the woman's school, Dalian Polytechnic University, posted a public notice—naming her—on its website of her expulsion for bringing shame to the country.

Social media exploded with accusations that she had "fawned over foreigners", with online mobs branding her a national embarrassment. Even some state media outlets joined the fray, amplifying her name and details to the public. Her supposed crime? Being seen in a hotel room with a white man, which was enough to trigger an institutional purge in the name of "national dignity".

But just as many came to her defence, arguing that she wasn't the one who posted the videos and had broken no law, while chastising the university for overreaching and making her the symbol of a moral offence against the state.

"It's like the public shaming parades of the Cultural Revolution," said a Chinese friend in Beijing.

Fuelling the firestorm were allegations that Mr Teslenko had boasted to his followers that Chinese girls were as "easy" as "buying cheap Brazilian steak", something the gamer denies saying. He has deleted the videos from his account.